Pom in Oz with Derek Goforth: If COVID proved anything, it’s the priceless worth of our nursing fraternity

We may very well be looking at COVID — or certainly the worst of it — in our rear view mirror now, but I have not forgotten and I will never forget the people who stood out and stood up (and those who didn’t) during the peak of the crisis. The police, the teachers, supermarkets workers and for me the queens and kings of the COVID fight — the nurses. Now, I believe nurses do possibly one of the hardest jobs in existence. As far as relentless pressure and physical and mental demands placed upon you, our nurses are the top of my list. I honestly could not do it, I could not deal with that level of grief, stress and to be honest bodily fluids. I take my hat off to every one of them. COVID exaggerated these qualities a thousand-fold, putting nurses under intense pressure and scrutiny. The press, the pollies and the general public stood in the street and applauded their efforts. Quite simply put, the nurses stood on the front line, and they did not retreat, they made the hard choices and made them with a steely look on their collective faces. To me our nurses are priceless, they are the glue that holds our healthcare system together and by connection our society together. They have done their job with physical distancing, face masks and dozens of other restrictions, but they have done it with passion and conviction. I don’t know much about the back and forth between the nurses union and the State Government, but I hope Mark McGowan and his colleagues do the right thing. By right thing I mean to listen to the people who know what the nurses need — the nurses themselves. I think they have earned it, they have shown us what they can do and what they will continue to do, so let’s give them the tools to keep doing their job. They know what they need and they know what they are worth. Let’s now just do the right thing — for all of us — and give it to them. Derek Goforth is an expat of 13 years and father of three